K’vonte Scott sets school record in heptathlon, achieves five personal bests

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (Jan. 22, 2012) – Freshman K’vonte Scott (Virginia Beach, Va.) set five personal bests on his way to breaking the ETSU record in the heptathlon, as the ETSU track and field teams wrapped up their weekend at the CNU Captains Invitational and Multis.

Scott’s score 4,834 in the event earned second place, and broke former Buccaneer Nic Chernikow’s school mark of 4,820.

"This meet was meant to be a learning experience for the young combined event athletes,” ETSU assistant coach Eli Sunquist said. “We wanted the men to be able get familiar with the heptathlon, as well as get the women to compete in some events which were new to them.

“I was especially pleased to see K'Vonte [Scott] break the school record while still leaving a lot points on the table in the shot put and 1000m run. Overall, things went well.”

On his way to breaking the ETSU heptathlon record, Scott set new personal marks in the 60m, 1000m, pole vault, long jump and shot put. Scott’s times of 7.29 in the 60m and 2:56.69 in the 1000m earned second in each event, while his 4.10m pole vault and 6.55m long jump took second as well. In the shot put, Scott took fourth with a 10.38m hurl.

Freshman Dane Gray (Vilseck, Germany) also recorded a top-five performance, coming in sixth in the high jump with a 1.90m leap.

On the women’s side, Katerina Vodova (Humpolec, Czech Republic) strung together top-10s in three events, including a win in the long jump at 5.58m. Vodova also took seventh in the 600m with a time of 1:43.31, and sixth in the shot put with an 11.24m toss.

Sophomore Taylor Story (Germantown, Tenn.) earned a top-five, taking second in her first collegiate long jump.

“Both Taylor [Story] and Katerina [Vodova] did a really nice job of competing,” added Sunquist. “I am looking forward to Leah [Oakhill] joining them in the pentathlon in a few weeks at Penn State."

The ETSU track and field teams now look forward to the 34th annual Niswonger Invitational, set to take place Friday, January 27, through Saturday, January 28, inside the ETSU/MSHA Athletic Center.

For more information on ETSU track and field, please visit ETSUBucs.com and click on the track and field links.